The Lead
In the immediate days following the election of Donald Trump, Fox News set records for its share of the cable news audience. That share has begun to dwindle slightly as MSNBC has bounced back in recent months.
In the latest figures from Nielsen Media Research, MSNBC earned 23% of the primetime cable news audience for the week of March 10th. While that might not seem significant, it is a rise compared to where the network previously sat. At times since Election Day 2024, MSNBC’s share has been as low as 16% of the cable news audience, while Fox News rose to as high as 70%.
Additionally, in mid-November, the total viewership in primetime for MSNBC averaged under 700,000. The network has stabilized that figure in recent months. During the most recent week, MSNBC averaged 1.2 million viewers in the primetime window.
For the week of March 10th, Fox News earned 58% of the cable news audience share in primetime with an average of 3 million viewers. Meanwhile, CNN earned 11% with its average of 571,000 total viewers in primetime. Newsmax was fifth at 5% with its 275,000 viewers, and NewsNation captured 2% of the audience with an average of 99,000 viewers.
MSNBC’s ratings have been buoyed by a shift in strategy by new network president Rebecca Kutler, as it removed host Joy Reid from the 7 PM ET timeslot. Additionally, popular host Rachel Maddow is helming a nightly program in the 9 PM ET window during the first 100 days of the presidency of Donald Trump. Maddow has remained adamant she will not continue the program once the 100 days have passed.
MSNBC is also slated to begin new programming in the 7-11 PM ET window. Former hosts of The Weekend — Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez — will take over the 7 PM ET timeslot previously occupied by Reid. Meanwhile, Jen Psaki is set to replace Alex Wagner — who hosted the 9 PM ET window on a Tuesday-Friday basis as Maddow held onto Monday evenings — once the first 100 days programming ceases.
Newsmax Sees Big Jump During Week of President Trump’s Congressional Address
It is no secret that the Newsmax audience — and hosts — love President Donald Trump. But we’ve now seen just how much a major event with the Republican President can move the needle for the network.
During the week of February 24th, Newsmax was the 20th overall cable network in primetime. The network averaged 269,000 total viewers during the week in the 8-11 PM ET block.
On Tuesday, March 4th, President Trump delivered an Address to a Joint Session of Congress. And while it wasn’t technically the State of the Union speech, it still delivered a large audience for Newsmax.
The network saw an average of 382,000 total viewers for the week — a nearly 30% increase week-over-week — and a 14th-place finish in the overall cable landscape.
However, the week following the speech, Newsmax returned to more usual levels, averaging 275,000 total viewers in primetime during the week of March 10th, good for 22nd in the overall cable rankings.
Meet the Press Wins Key Demo for 4 Straight Weeks for NBC News
The Sunday political affairs ratings war has heated up as Meet the Press has earned NBC News the win in the key demographic for four consecutive weeks.
On Sunday, March 9th, 418,000 viewers from the Adults 25-54 demographic watched as Kristen Welker featured interviews with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
The overall ratings winner was CBS News’ Face the Nation, helmed by Margaret Brennan. That show earned 2.7 million viewers, while This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News was second with 2.4 million viewers. Meet the Press averaged 2.2 million overall, while FOX News Sunday was a distant fourth, averaging 967,000 total viewers.
The battle was much closer between all of the challengers in the Adults 25-54 demographic. While NBC News took home the win at 418,000 viewers from that sector, Face the Nation was second at 375,000, while the ABC News show featured 332,000 key demo viewers.
The FOX broadcast network program helmed by Shannon Bream featured an average audience of 217,000 total viewers in the key demographic on that same Sunday.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
